Guides: Hauling
Hauling Hauling is the act of transporting items from one location to another. It can be between two stations, from a mining operation to a station, or between any other two points where items and resources can be found or are required. As a profession, Hauling relies on the need for materials to be moved. This can be a corporation with an organized mining operation, a mission from an Agent, or a player looking to have resources moved. You can haul for yourself to buy or sell at the best market price, or you can haul for others so that they don't have to. No matter how it's done, Hauling as a profession should have one goal -- Profit -- and in order to make a profit, others need to trust you to handle their goods. Ships There are three classes of ships that can be used for Hauling. Which ships are used depend on the pilots skills and needs. Industrial Class Ships Also called "indy's," these are the first ships a Hauler will have at their disposal. They have large cargo holds, and a number of Low slots which can be fitted with Expanded Cargo hold units to increase their capacity while sacrificing speed. Industrial ships are well suited for most Hauling situations, but vulnerable in low-security areas unless properly escorted.. Transport Class Ships Specialized Tech Level 2 Industrial ships. For most races, the Transport class consists of a Blockade Runner and a Deep Space Transport. The Blockade Runner is a smaller ship sporting more shield, armor, and speed, for getting cargo past a hostile blockade. The Deep Space Transport ships have a larger capacity than their Industrial counterpart, and also sport increased shields but have a much slower velocity. Freighter Class Ships The behemoths of Hauling. Slow and sturdy, these ships have a capacity of hundreds of thousands of cubic meters. Freighter Class ships are not for your normal Hauling operations and their Billion-ISK pricetags make them a rare sight - except in jita, where the bricks are everywere. A list of ships for each race will be added soon, including ship statistics. Getting Started Hauling, as a profession, is far from the most difficult of tasks in EVE. However, the circulation of goods and materials is necessary for the success of the economy. To begin hauling for a profit, you need only a few things. *'Industrial Class Ship.' This is perhaps the only requirement for successful hauling. The large cargo hold of the Industrial Class ships compared to most other classes makes them the ideal choice for beginning and experienced pilots alike. Sadly, the capacity of these ships is all they really have going for them. High Power slots are limited and their maximum velocity is limited. *'Propulsion Upgrades.' Industrial Class ships are slow, and just about anything you do to increase their capacity makes them slower. Afterburners and Microwarpdrives can make approaching star gates and stations much less painful, and they can greatly reduce the time of long trips--15km at 750m/s is much nicer than at 125m/s. *'Cargo hold Upgrades.' When you make a ship that holds a lot of stuff carry even more stuff, you need to sacrifice something. The only exception to this is through skill bonuses. Hull Modification modules can be used to increase your cargo hold at the expense of maximum velocity. Corporate Hauling A true corporation acquires a lot of stuff over the course of time, and sometimes that stuff needs to be moved. The basic concepts remain the same, but the contract details depend on the corporation. Are you expected to haul for free--because that's what you do--or do you get paid? Are you paid by the load, by the hour, or by some other scale that your corporation has come up with? Are you hauling by yourself, or with a team of haulers? Just as it does in the real world, involving a corporation in a task can simplify it or over-complicate it, all depending on which side of the operation you're on. The hauling remains the same; you move stuff from one place to another, as directed by your corporation's management. Working on the management end of things, however, can be a logistics nightmare. Keeping a team of Haulers efficient and on task is difficult--especially when each is controlled by a sentient being wanting to do things its own way on its own time. Freelance Hauling Hauling on your own for a profit can be done two ways: The first, Trading, involves buying goods at a low price and selling them for a higher price at another location. There is an entire skill class dedicated to Trade. The second method, which I will describe in more detail, is transporting items for others. Picture a courier service like UPS or FedEx. Others pay you to carry their goods from one location to another. To even begin making a profit as a courier, people need to trust you to carry their goods. I can't imagine it would be easy to make a profit this way if you have been known to cheat and steal in the past--the most you can do is move to a system where most people won't know of your past mistakes, and do everything you can to prevent it from happening again. Once you have made contact with a client you are going to need to ask for, or negotiate, certain information. *'Goods.' What is being transported, how much of it, and its total mass. *'Origin.' Where are the goods currently located? Who will arrange to have them transferred to you? What security level is the system? (Check your map) How many pods have been destroyed in the system in the past hour? In the past 24 hours? *'Destination.' Where are the goods being shipped to? What is the security level of the destination system? How many pods have been destroyed in the destination system in the past hour? In the past 24 hours? *'Risk.' What is the risk involved with the shipment? Is there a high chance of pirate activity in the area? Do you have an escort? If it is a low-risk shipment, or a risk you are willing to take, then the only thing that should hold you back is the length of the trip vs. the profit. Can you make more ISK/Jump with a different shipment? *'Payment.' How much will you be paid? Will it be all on delivery or a portion before and after? Who is responsible if your ship is destroyed and the goods are lost? Who pays to replace your ship? Once all of the questions are out of the way, all that remains is the shipment. Pick up the goods, deliver them, and get paid. Note: A lot of the Hauling contracts have an absurd collateral requirement, and a miniscule reward. Be Suspicious. Additional Tips and Tricks There are always ways to increase your efficiency at hauling. Training certain skills can increase your ships maximum velocity and even add capacity to your cargo hold. Below are ways to get the most out of your ship. Increase Your Velocity The majority of long trips are spent waiting to be within range of stargates and stations. (If you're using the autopilot that is. When you do the warp to stargate/station manually you warp within 0 m and you can dock or jump right away. This is recomended if you have the "stamina" to pay attention to your ship as it travels) Increasing your ship maximum velocity is an easy way to shorten these trips. *Train your Racial Industrial skill to increase your ships capacity and velocity at the same time *Equip your ship with an Afterburner and activate it to boost your speed during the approach. Train skills that make your afterburner more efficient and increase capacitor recharge rate to allow it to run longer *Equip your ship with a Microwarpdrive, the next step up from the Afterburner. MWDs can increase your velocity up to 550%. You will almost certainly need to use some or all of your low-slots for power-boosting modules to do this, such as Reactor Control Units, as industrial ships are typically weak on power. *Equip your ship with Nanofiber Hull modules rather than Expanded Cargohold modules. These increase your ships maximum velocity and maneuverability. *Equip your ship with propulsion Overdrive Injector modules, which decrease your cargo hold size, but give a larger increase to speed than Nanofiber Hull modules. Note that unlike Nanofiber Hull modules, Overdrive Injector modules do not increase your ship's agility, so acceleration will still happen at your ship's normal, ponderous rate. Category:Guides